Process of making gas.



J. J. NIX.

PROCESS OF MAKING GAS.

APPLIOATION FILED JAN. 21, 1910.

Patented Mar. 14, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

INVENTOR Jar/ma Jeff/z Br WITNESSES ATTOR/VE Y8 JQJ. NIX.

PROCESS OF MAKING GAS. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 21, 1910.

Patented Mar. 14, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES Josh/(1f fiilr ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

' JOSHUA JOHN NIX, OF ALHAMBRA, CALIFORNIA.

rnocEss or MAKING ens.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 14, 1911.

Application filed January 21, 1910. Serial No. 539,330.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JosHUA J. NIX, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Alhambra, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and Improved Process for Making Gas, of which the following is a' full, clear, and

exact description.

My invention relates to a process for making gas, my more particular purpose/being to make a combustible gas cheaply and continuously with a minimum of waste of both heat and materials. a

My invention comprehends, among other things, the heating of a furnace or other receptacle and the continuous precipitation therein of carbonaceous material in gaseous v or the like, of powdered carbonaceous material into a previously heated region,.to enable said powdered carbon to facilitate the formation of the gas.

My invention comprehends various other steps, the ultimate purpose of which is to improve in general the known processes for making combustible gases.

While I do not limit myself to the use of-any particular form of apparatus carrying out my invention, I nevertheless for convenience herein illustrate one particular form of apparatus suitable for carrying out my process.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of'reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 1s a side elevation of the gas furnace com lete; Fig. 2 is an end elevatlon of the gas urnace, showing it as it would appear to an observer stationed at the left of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a-longitudinal section through the furnace on the line 3-3 of Fig. 4, looking in the direction of the rrow;

and Fig. 4 is a vertical cross section on the line 44 of Fig. 3, looking in the directionof the arrow.

.A fireproof receptacle 5 having generally the form of a furnace is provided externally with a metal jacket 6. A hand rail '7 is mounted upon the jacket for the convenience of the operator. The furnace is provided with walls 8, 9 between which is a space 10, and is further. provided with a front wall 8. nected to an exhaust fan or other appropriatemechanism for producing in the furnace a partial vacuum. This pipe 11 is provided" with a discharge outlet l'l over which is a chimney 12. This discharge outlet is normally kept closed, but-may be opened at the start in order to permit the escape of gases formed in starting-athe device into operation.

, Mounted upon the furnace are hoppers 13, 13 and at the bottoms of these hoppers are discharging bells 14, 15 of the usual valvular form and adapted to eject the contents of the hoppers into the furnace.

Levers 16, 17 are used for operating the bells 14, 15 and are provided with counterweights 18, 19 to balance these bells. The hoppers are also provided with lids 20, 21 whereby they may be closed at will.

At 22 is anatomizer burner and at 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 are peep holes At 11, is a pipe which may be conthrough which the operator may observe,

the internal workings of the furnace. The atomizer burner 22 is connected with an air supply pipe 30 and an oil supply pipe 31, the air supply being regulated by aid of a hand valve 32.

' At 33 I provide an ejector for delivering powdered carbon or carbonaceous material into the furnace. This injector includes a hopper 34, mounted upon it and adapted to contain thepowdered material. A pipe 35 leads to the injector and is used for delivering thereinto compressed air or steam.

If desired, the pipe 35 may simply admit air at atmospheric pressure, but in this event it is necessary to form apartial vacuum in the furnace, inorder to cause the difference in atmospheric pressure to, drive the powdered carbonaceous material.

- A hand valve 36 regulates the supply of air or steam admitted through the pipe 35. The hopper 34'is provided with a hand feed 37, whereby the supply ofthe carbonaceous material may be controlled at will". Mount ing to these pipes aresmaller pipesl42, 43

for conveying steam or compressed airthereinto.

.At 44, 45 are dampers for controlling .thelsupply of air to the burners 38, 39. Below the atomizer burner 22 I locate two other atomizer burners '47 exactly alike. These burners are connectedin pos tion by aid of collars 46, the atomizer burner 22 being occasionally to allow the apparatus to besimilarly mounted by aid of a collar 22.

At 48', 49 are doors which maybe opened cleaned out. i

, Thehoppers 13, 13 are charged with byproduct carbon, preferably coa which has already undergone one distillation but wh1ch still contains some volatile hydrocarbon.

At 51 is a quantity of carbon or carbonaceous material which "haspassed through the hoppers 13, 13. ,At 52 is another quantity of carbonaceous material which, in being precipitated, is passed over the part1- tions 8, 9, as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3. Y I

The operation of my device is as follows:

Having filled the hoppers 13, 13 with caramount of fuel is thus worked up, however,

- operation,

v the burner or burners used for admitting bon which has already undergone one distillation, and which is therefore by-product carbon, and having also 'filled the hop er 34 with finelydivided carbon or car onaceous material, the burners 22, 47 are lighted and are adjusted for complete combustion. That is to say, the supply of air and of fuel is so regulated as to completely consume the fuel thus supplied, the resultmg product being, of course, G0,. No great for my purpose in bringing about this complete combustion is merely to heat the furnace at the start. While the atomizer burners 22 and 47 are to some extent independent of the burners 38, '39, and'inay, 1f desired, be operated while the .burners last mentioned are in action, thisis not essential as the burners 38,- 39 may be operated even when the burners 22 and 47 are idle. This being done, I set the burners 38, 39 into supplying them abundantly,

I through the pipes 40, 41 "or througheither vone ofthese p1pes as desired, with liquid fuel, yet so restricting the air supply into air, that it is unable to form carbon-dioxid (00,) but readily makes carbon-monoxid (CO). The mass of carbonaceous material having been previously precipitated and now being heated to incandescenc'e, and also "being permeated with carbon-monoxid formed constantly throughout this mass by action of the restricted quantities of air scenes to. form combustible gas by the addition of steam. The steam is admitted through the pipe 35 or, if desired, through either one of thepipes 42, 43. Where one of these pipes is used for admittin steam, the other is employed for supplying fuel as above described. While usually the steam and air are admitted at the same time, this is not in all instances necessary. The restricted volume of air may first be admitted and when the carbonaceous material isheated to in candescencein contact with such air, the

steam may be admitted afterward. Now, either forthe'sakeof economy in working up waste materials,'*or to insure that the carbon within the furnace is in pro er condition to assist in forming the gas, may, by aid of the hand feed 37, admit into the furnace a supply of finely divided carbon or carbonaceous material through the ho per 34. In doing this OI may continue to a it steam through the .pipe 35, if desired, or not, depending upon how much steam is otherwise supplied and also depending, to some extent, upon the proportions of the apparatus.

The mechanism may also be used as follows: Liquid fuel being admitted through the atomizer burners 22, 47, causes, as above .indicated, the formation within the furnace of carbon dioxid, and when this is brought into contact with the heated massv 51 of carbon' within the furnace and steam is supplied, the carbon dioxid (C0,) is converted into carbon monoxid CO).

' In the process above described the free hot carbon is constantly precipitated or liberated at the required rate of gas consum f the tion, thus rendering the production 0 gas considerably cheaper.

The process also renders the quality of the gas decidedly more uniform than is usually case when the gas is made from oil alone. That is to say, when oil alone is used a combustion gas is formed which varies greatly in its purity and therefore correspondingly varies in its composition.

With the process above described, the gas made is comparatively pure and has therefore a regular and definite rate of combustion, which is a great consideration where the gas is to be used for running an en e.

It may be observed that-when the o pers at the" top of the furnace are used, t e carbon passed through them into the furnace contains some moisture and remains resting upon the bottom for some little time,

. being gradually consumed. The atomized carbon acts somewhat similarly, gathering upon the bottom of the furnace, but is taken up more quickly than is the case with the solid carbonaceous material from the upper hoppers.

While I prefer to use powdered carbon for reaching said mass, is in suitable condition the lower hopper 34, I find that other forms of carbonaceous material, if suitably powdered, will answer, in a measure at least, the same purpose. I also find that other forms of carbon may be injected in the way above described with reference to the'hopper 34:.

The gas formed by the process above described, contains a larger proportion of carbon monoxid (CO) than is the case with gases made directly from oil. The capacity of a given furnace or generator is upon this account largely increased.

In carrying out my process I find it comparatively easy to maintain a uniform tem- 4 perature, and consequently to make a gas having uniformity of composition. That is to say, while the gas is a mixture it is a comparatively constant mixture.

In my process all free carbon'is eventually formed into carbon monoxid (CO) or carbon dioxid.,CO and by the-aid of steam is made into gas admixed, of course, to some extent, with other gases. -As indicated by the arrow in Fig.3 there is a down draft on the right of the partition 9, the purpose of this being to facilitate the precipitation of the carbon at the right of the partition 9, so that the burner 39 is better enabled to do its work upon the carbon thus precipitated.

Having-thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by-Letters Patent:

cipitating carbonaceous material into a receptacle, heating said carbonaceous material with a restricted supply of air, inducting into said receptacle a supply of powdered carbon by aid of a partial vacuum, and supplying to said first-mentioned carbon and said powdered carbon within said receptacle a supply of steam.

2. The method herein described, of making a combustible gas, which consists in reducing carbonaceous fuel to gaseous form, providing a supply of powdered carbon, drawing the same by aid of a partial vacuum into contact with said carbonaceous fuel in said gaseous form, and supplying steam to the mixture of said powdered carbon and said carbonaceous material in gaseous form.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOSHUA JOHN NIX.

Witnesses:

OLIVE M. TEAGARDEN,

GEO. W. J ONES.

1. The method herein described, of mak- I 111g a combustible gas, which consists in pre- 

